Learning About Wiki Editing

Importantly, a link is made by using a bracket, with the URL first and then the text to be linked to, like this: [http://twit.tv TWiT]. It looks like this TWiT to the reader.

Also, bullet points are made with an asterisk *. Subheads are made with two asterisks **.

When To Edit Show Notes?

There's basically three times to edit show notes: Before live taping, during live taping, and after live taping.

Before Live Taping

Many shows have an outline ready beforehand. Sometimes, as in the case of Windows Weekly, a designated community member like Sharp65 will be sent those notes by the host, and post them even before the show begins recording.

During Live Taping

The most helpful system by far is to have one or two regular TWiT Live viewers assign themselves (unofficial) ownership of a particular show and update the links while the show is in progress. This way the links can be included in the feed and on the web page when the final edited version of the show goes live. It's also helpful if these self-assigned show note takers coordinate with each other so as to not duplicate efforts.

Even if the outline is already posted before the show, it's helpful to have someone take notes during the show to record any spontaneous links or topics that are mentioned.

After Live Taping

While most podcasts are recorded live on http://live.twit.tv, they're finalized only when they come out in an edited podcast form. At this point, the show notes might already be completed (or they might not). Even if there have been a number of notes, those listening to the podcast are always welcome and encouraged to refine the wiki show notes for accuracy. If you're coordinating efforts with another show note taker, you might wish to have one of you listen to the show after it's released as a podcast just to add any other relevant links or tidy up spelling.

Anonymous Or By Name?

If you're a regular show note taker and/or contributor to the wiki or community in general, it's probably helpful for you to make edits while logged in, so your entries have greater credibility for those looking at a particular page's history.

However, anyone, whether logged in or not, can modify anyone else's work, as long as they strive for accuracy and follow the wiki's rules.

Editing With Someone Else At The Same Time

If you're editing a wiki page at the same time as another community member, it can create version control problems that are a pain for you and the other person. It's best to just have one person edit at a time. If you see that changes have been made since the last time you saved, then someone else is also editing the page. There's a few of ways to solve this:

Make edits and save really quickly, and/or

Make your edits to a separate text file and update later, and/or

Stop editing, and/or

Communicate with the other editor via his or her "Talk" page and coordinate your efforts for that day or longer term.

Starting A Show Note Page

You might be the first person to create a page. This can be done before or after the show has begun taping. Here are the steps:

Find the show note page for the previous episode.

To find the show note page of the previous page, go to the wiki home page [1], then Show Name->Show Notes (at bottom of infobox on right side of page). You'll then come to a page of show notes. Click on the most recent episode listed. This is possibly the most recent episode, and will have a URL that looks like one of these, only with a different number at the end.

Is the episode at the top of the page the actual most recent episode? Maybe, maybe not. To find out for sure, keep adding one to the episode number (193 becomes 194, and so on) until you come to a blank page that might look like this dummy page. If the last page you looked at was within the last week, you've likely found the latest episode.

Click on "edit this page."

You'll see some links under Show Notes to "New_Showname." Click on the showname that applies.

If you'll scroll down the page, you'll see the guts of a dummy page, with many fields pre-filled.

After you've made an entry in the first field, click save. You've now created a new episode page you can work on. If you made a mistake in opening a page, but haven't yet saved, the new page will not be created. And if you do make the wrong page, they can be deleted, so don't fret yourself (but don't go making pages willy-nilly, either).

Editing A Show Note Page That's Already Been Created

Click on the "edit" tab at the top. You're now ready to begin editing.

Edit The Episode Number

The number of an old episode is in some of the templates. That needs to be updated each time.

If you just have a couple of notes to add, and can't do the show, that's fine. And even if you're formatting isn't quite perfect, that's fine, too, although you should do your best by checking the formatting guidelines at the top of this page. But there as number of people who use the wiki and they can help.

Links To Stories

The most important thing Leo wants on show note pages is links to stories and websites. Editorial comments, or topics that don't have links, are also good, but are of secondary importance.

How To Link To Stories

Organize links by using asterisks as bullet points. A double asterisk makes a subhead.

For current news stories, copy the full text of the headline and link to that.

For websites, link the URL to the name of the website (spelling it like the website spells it).

If you're linking to an old news article, just linking to relevant few words instead of the article's title (example: When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon)

Link To People

The first link to anyone's name gets double brackets, [[Firstname Lastname]], which links them to their page on this wiki, if they have one, like this: Leo Laporte

It's also customary to link to a panelist or guest blog.

It's optional to link to a panelist or guest Twitter account. The appropriate syntax is to link to their Twitter username like this: [http://twitter.com/leolaporte @leolaporte], which looks like this: @leolaporte.

Other Links

Update the day the show is recorded live (Pacific Time) under "Recorded Date"

Update the day it is published under "Published Date." This is the date announceD at the opening of final podcast version of the show. If there is no date, it's the date listed on that episode's page on TWiT.tv

Correct Other People's Links

If you see a link or text that is wrong in the wiki, please fix it.

If it helps to see who edited the show before you, check the "history" tab at the top of the page. If you need to communicate with one of the editors, click on the "Talk" link after their username/handle, and write on that page. When you do write on their page, please log in and type in ~~~~ after your entry so your name will automatically be entered.

Update or modify almost anything that needs it, other than "Production Notes," which is just for TWiT staff to edit.

Creating a Show Notes Template

On the create page, you'll notice a number of links to create pages for specific shows. However, some newer shows do not yet have templates. If you've noticed that a new show does not have a template, here's a guide to creating them.